Software vendor CodeWeavers has released a CrossOver Office Server
edition that will allow thin-client users to run Microsoft Office
and several other popular applications under Linux or Sun Solaris
without having to run Microsoft Windows.
CodeWeavers said Server Edition 1.3.1 is an expansion of its
existing CrossOver Office desktop application, released last March.
That product allows a desktop PC user running Linux to run
Microsoft Office, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Lotus Notes and
Microsoft Visio without the Windows operating system.
The new server edition means systems administrators can install the
server version of CrossOver Office and one copy of Office and make
it available to users across the network, minimising administration
and installations tasks.
Each user of the client applications would still need to have the
appropriate licences to use the software.
For the first time, the server edition of CrossOver Office will
allow Solaris users to also share the applications. Other Unix
support is in the works, said chief executive officer Jeremy White.
"We can actually make it work very quickly with any Unix," he said.
"We're sort of waiting for customers to drive us to do it."
The server edition supports Office 2000 and Office 97, with Office
XP support expected to follow within the next month. Office 95 is
not supported at present, but the company hoped to add that in the
future to help support legacy applications not supported by
Microsoft.
The number of users that can be supported at once on the server
edition is constrained only by the server hardware it runs on.
Competitors including Citrix Systems offer similar technologies,
but they cost as much as 20% more, White said.
Not all Microsoft Office functionalities are available when using
CrossOver Office Server, he acknowledged. "There are occasions
where there are bugs," White said, though development is continuing
to stamp out the remaining compatibility problems. He estimated
that nearly all available functions are supported.
"CrossOver Server Edition is designed to help the corporate market
bridge to Linux," White said. "With Server Edition we offer
corporate workgroups the ability to control costs by consolidating
on a lower-cost desktop, while still running the applications their
users have grown accustomed to."
Giga Information Group analyst Stacey Quandt said there were cost
benefits to reducing the Windows licences in a business, but she
cautioned that the use of CrossOver Office would be dependent on
how many users it could support in each specific company that might
deploy it.
Other benefits would include the lower costs associated with
running Linux and the ability of Linux to run on machines that are
older, without requiring costly regularly scheduled hardware
upgrades, she said.
Pricing for the server edition begins at $1,195 (£748) for the
software, with an additional $1,185 for a licence for 25 concurrent
users. A 100-user concurrent licence costs $4,000. Unlimited
enterprise site licences are also available.